to maybe help respond to people when they ask you "hey did you see those crazy riots?" the purpose of these events is twofold:

notice on the mass media and cable news you only see videos of black-suited anarchists clashing with the cops. that's #1) to keep the masses in fear. I've seen so many friends posting on facebook "damn crazy communists trying to takeover! get a job you flip-flop-wearin, farmers-market-shoppin slime!!" ugh. so sad. making the "successful" class of people hate people who don't play the consumerist game, which even limits people like us on CM.com from being able to evangelize our solution. sucks. people are being sucked in as usual getting them to hate each other and actually WANT police/military oppression for THOSE people. meanwhile in reality they're just beating up and pepper spraying college kids.

#2) to train the next generation that what they learned in junior high civics is no longer true. they will be ruled by global financial elites behind the WTO/BIS/G20/WB/IMF and darth vader cops backed up by the military will physically force them into submission. this psychologically trains college kids that the days of a free republic where a local sheriff says "howdy neighbor" to the neighbors is no longer the country they live in.

it's really hard for me to remain at peace and keep living day-to-day trying to create community in a country that is so polarized and controlled by mass media (by definition, "mass" destroys local community). I don't know how to let it all go in the midst of it. I feel like I'm in a war zone, a psychological/electronic war instead of a physical military war. any advice on how any of you are able to remain at peace while electronic bombs are dropping overhead?? again I'm starting to think the only option for me is to move out.

The new order of things has been announced at the Pittsburgh G20 meeting. Magically, now “Deficits and trade imbalances are believed to have played a prominent role in plunging the global economy into a downward spiral.” No - it was derivatives and fraudulent leveraging of bad debt into the economy. But who cares about the truth, there’s a "new" agenda tocontinue the currency shell game and strengthen corporate/state control over the masses.

Very disturbing to say the least. I am Hungarian, and a very similar situation occured in October of 2006 in the streets of Budapest. There are a few differences, this was in a post-communist East European country, only 16 years after the fall of communism, mostly ruled by post-communist elites in those 16 years. The 50th anniversary of the largest anti-soviet revolution, the ruling elites could not handle the situation. You see mostly well-dressed, conservative, civic middle class people being brutalised. They only wanted to celebrate the heroes of the revolution and peacefuly express their unhappyness towards the repeatedly lying, stealing post-communist elites who were and still are, with the help of the IMF, running the country into the ground for the 3rd 4th? time in 50 years. Numerous young people lost their eyesight, hearing, job, livelyhood, future prospects in those days, and the "judiciary aftermath" of soviet style conceptional court proceedings.

Just sad to see similar images emerging from the USA, the "land of the free". Government-corporate complex terror going global east to west.

More examples of the out of control executive branch in this country, at every level. Just as our imperial foreign policy breeds anger and resentment abroad, these actions do the same at home. This will continue to escalate. Welcome to the new Amerika. Nice, isn't it. By the time enough everyday people wake up, the battle will have been lost.

Strabes, you hit the nail on the head about the media. They play this up as "out of control anarchists" being subdued for the good of our country and the average American takes it hook, line and sinker. In reality, they are ignoring the final stages of this, once great, country's life.

I've been to many protests in a lot of places but this is the first time I've felt like a spectator which is odd because I live in Pittsburgh. There were many groups representing a myriad of causes. The big Friday march looked like something between the olympic opening ceremony and the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. Groups with black, pink, green, yellow t-shirts walked in procession with drums, different chants, megaphones and waving banners and flags.

I didn't see any problems and my End the Fed banner and regalia seemed to be generally welcomed by almost all of the groups I encountered in participating in 3 events through-out the 3 main days. It was fun to mix and talk with others trying to change the status quo. There were many black shirted "anti-capitalists, mostly younger folks. I tried to explain that we haven't practiced capitalism for over 90 years. The problem is the Federal Reserve. I suggested they were not going to have much success protesting against a vague idea. Many think anti-capitalism = communism or socialism.

After the Friday march, I realized that there really was no message being delivered. I thought about how great it would be if such a large group of passionate people united to march to End the Fed. And that this would repeat itself in every city. The Fed has to be fired, the alternative is to give away our nation and freedoms.

Then I thought about a group that wasn't at the G-20. There were few war protesters, the anti-war movement seemed to die when Obama took office. Cindy Sheehan had a small event on Wednesday to end the wars. I was surprised at how few of people showed up. It was sad in a way, a couple of years ago thousands of reporters camped with outside ranch bush and followed her every move. Now, the media no longer finds her or the anti-war move "interesting."

Thursday and Friday, riot and paramilitary police staged in mass in the Oakland area, four or five miles away from the "downtown" G-20. Oakland is busy area the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Carlow and Chatam college campuses converge. The area is a vibrant student community; it is unacceptable to send in military and riot police, especially before anything illegal happened. I wasn't in Oakland, so here's a local newspaper account:

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW - A clash between protesters and police escalated Thursday night in Oakland as curious University of Pittsburgh students ventured to the demonstration. The protest began near Schenley Plaza at about 9 p.m. and moved throughout Oakland. Police arrested 42 people, bringing the total number of those arrested during the G-20 to 66.

As of Thursday, 42 of the 66 arrested were almost all students on or by their campuses.

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW - Authorities arrested 110 protesters in Oakland on Friday night during a demonstration that participants described as a stand against police brutality.

The late-night standoff came after police arrested more than 60 people Thursday night during demonstrations that turned violent on Forbes Avenue by the University of Pittsburgh. It also brought the total arrests during the Group of 20 summit to 193.

"This is a rally against police brutality," said Tom Judd, 24, of Rhode Island. "The police were very aggressive here (Thursday)."

Out of 193 people arrested, 152 of them were virtually all young students arrested on or by their campus. It is important to note that most of the people arrested were protesting against "police brutality" and not the G-20. Note in the video's posted earlier, a large group is chanting "let's go Pitt."

As Luke bull horned that the people in this park meant the police no physical harm, and that they were simply exercising their right to free speech, a couple of masked individuals began to scream “He doesn’t speak for us”. These few provocateurs and well meaning idiots could have been easily dealt with by a handful of regular police officers dressed in their standard uniform, however that solution does not offer the pretext for over a thousand heavily armed psychotics to encircle and engage the American people.

I began to become extremely frightened as to what the outcome of the situation was going to be as I began to witness LRAD weapons showing up, dogs beginning to circle the perimeter, and then everyone putting on their gas masks. During all of this I was threatened with arrest three times and physically charged and chased by one of the officers. At that point I realized they were about to attack, and they did. Hundreds of armed to the teeth trained professionals began their march towards innocent young men and women, and then took it much further by launching tear gas canisters, battening people trying to leave, and firing rubber bullets randomly into the crowd.

Luke Rudowski received multiple battens to his back and legs as the jackals descended on him with force, even though he had made it clear to all of them he wished them no violence. For his peaceful efforts Luke and Lee from We Are Change were separated from the rest of the more than one hundred detainees and sent to State Prison. Luke was strip searched, mocked, and charged with Disorderly Conduct and Unlawful Assembly, and will have to go back to Pittsburgh Wednesday to face charges. The Military and Police laughed as they took note of the “Superstar” that had been all over the news on channel 11 and even National NBC, taking a sick pleasure in the torture of another human being.

Pittsburgh police on Thursday used an audio cannon manufactured by American Technology Corporation (ATCO), a San Diego-based company, to disperse protesters outside the G-20 Summit -- the first time its LRAD series device has been used on civilians in the U.S.

An ATC sales representative confirms to DailyFinance that Pittsburgh police used ATC's Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD). "Yes, we sold one LRAD unit to a government agency -- I don't know which one -- which was used in Pittsburgh," the representative said. American Technology Corp.'s stock was trading up over 15 percent in heavy activity late Friday.

Pittsburgh officials said yesterday they believe this to be the first use of a LRAD "sonic cannon" against civilians in U.S. history.

"The police fired a sound cannon that emitted shrill beeps, causing demonstrators to cover their ears and back up," The New York Times reported. Putnam acknowledged the potential for physical harm. "If you stand right next to it for several minutes, you could have hearing damage," he said. "But it's your choice."